This website, founded at the dawn of the new millennium on January 1,
2001, is a centralized repository of disco information, highlighting the
best disco music from the 1970s through today and offering the largest
and most chronologically complete year-by-year lists ever compiled of
disco songs.

Like with any musical genre, disco has its share of treasures and its
share of junk. So which ones are worth your time to seek out and listen
to? Here are some disco songs and disco artists that have stood the test
of time, performed and produced by superb singers, musicians, and producers.

Have you ever heard statements like "All disco sounds the same" and "Disco
is just meaningless party music"? These essays demonstrate the falseness
of these sentiments, and will help you explore the full richness of disco.

The positive aspects of disco music are often unfairly overlooked,
especially since the best disco songs are not known to most people or
have been forgotten or miscategorized. First, unlike most other forms of
dance music, disco performers generally use real
acoustical instruments, including brass (saxophone, trumpet, etc.),
strings, rhythm guitar, drums, and piano. There were even several disco
orchestras like M.F.S.B., Salsoul Orchestra, Biddu Orchestra, John Davis
and the Monster Orchestra, The Armada Orchestra, The Mike Theodore
Orchestra, THP Orchestra, The Wonderland Disco Band, Meco Orchestra,
Richard Hewson Orchestra, Montana Orchestra,
and Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. Some
notable examples of orchestrated disco are M.F.S.B.'s "TLC (Tender Lovin'
Care)" and "T.S.O.P.", David
Shire's "Manhattan
Skyline", Salsoul
Orchestra's "Magic
Bird of Fire"
and "Runaway",
and the Armada Orchestra's
"Band of Gold", among many others.
Occasionally, other disco bands used organ synthesizers instead
of real violins, but this was still far better than the excessively
electronic dance and rock music of the 1980s.

Not all disco sounds the
same

Furthermore, disco music is generally uplifting and inspiring,
providing a much-needed contrast to the dull and angry racket of many
hard rock, heavy metal, alternative rock, techno, and rap songs. With its
driving beats, grooving basslines, funky horns, and harmonious strings,
disco conveys feeling and energy better than many other genres. ...and
provides a
diverse range of sounds: Disco is primarily influenced
by soul and funk music, but can also utilize elements from jazz, blues,
calypso, soca, sca, classical, Latino, and rock music. Effective
instrumentation combined with effortful singing had
stellar results, as demonstrated by the timeless disco songs by Sister Sledge,
Michael Jackson, Gloria Gaynor, George Benson, Phyllis Hyman, Donna
Summer, and others. Disco music, when made properly, can be fun, classy,
innovative, and exciting.

Not just party
music

It's true that up-tempo disco music is perfect for any celebration. But,
more than mere party music, disco can have deep, meaningful
lyrics and can be listened to anywhere, anytime.
Quality disco is great for, among other things, relaxing, dancing,
exercising, driving, or rollerskating.

However, the majority of disco
artists were solely studio singers, and when disco was made carelessly
by producers and companies that were more interested in making money than
making quality music, the results were mindless repetition, boring
lyrics, and headache-inducing instrumentation. And radio stations in the
1970s tended to play too many inferior disco songs. A listener
would be barraged by "Ring My Bell", "YMCA", "Macho Man", "Disco Duck",
"Knock on Wood", "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", "Get Dancin'", "Funkytown", "If
There's Love", and other mindless and unharmonious
mass-produced trash in between the gems. And as disco phased into
over-synthesized pop, HI-NRG, house, and other forms of music, the
emotion, art, and style that typified the best acts of disco was lost.
Electronic keyboards and synthesizers have their place but they were used
to an excess in the 1980s. Often, keyboards and synths are good as
supplements to real instruments, but not as replacements. One by one each
real instrument was replaced; first the violins went, then the bass
guitar and trumpet, and finally the guitar.

Fortunately, the original disco sound came back in a big way beginning in
the 1990s, spawning hundreds of new disco recordings by such artists
as the Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, and BsB Disco Club.

Juno Download
sells the hottest dance music of yesterday and today in downloadable MP3
and WAV formats

Recommended links:

Other disco sites: Another site that agrees with
our premise that disco is still a contemporary genre, and which also has
very good recommendations of classic disco, is
DiscoStyle.com, so it's the top
pick. Also excellent are
Disco-Disco.com with its
interviews and samples,
and
Disco Funk with its terrific
A-Z artists database.
Ed Dolista, who hosts the Australian radio show "Disco Fever", has a
good site called Disco Fever.
DiscoMusic.com (1996-2016) had super databases and forums.